St. John's women fall short in double OT to Dayton

BY DOUG FEINBERGAP Basketball Writer

Published
3:30 pm EDT, Sunday, March 24, 2013

St. John's Shenneika Smith (35) reacts during the second half of a first-round game in the women's NCAA college basketball tournament against Dayton, Sunday, March 24, 2013, in New York. Dayton won 96-90. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

St. John's Shenneika Smith (35) reacts during the second half of a first-round game in the women's NCAA college basketball tournament against Dayton, Sunday, March 24, 2013, in New York. Dayton won 96-90. (AP

St. John's Shenneika Smith (35) reacts during the second half of a first-round game in the women's NCAA college basketball tournament against Dayton, Sunday, March 24, 2013, in New York. Dayton won 96-90. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

St. John's Shenneika Smith (35) reacts during the second half of a first-round game in the women's NCAA college basketball tournament against Dayton, Sunday, March 24, 2013, in New York. Dayton won 96-90. (AP

"I always will remember this one," Smith said. "This one hurts more than freshman year because it's our last one. We had a couple more years to get back. This one you'll always have in your memory. Nadirah and I have a chance to move on and do great things for ourselves. This will always be in our mind."

McKenith finished as the school's all-time assist leader and Smith the fourth-leading scorer. In their four years, the Red Storm have made the NCAA tournament every season -- including a trip to the regional semifinals last season, ended UConn's 99-game home winning streak and been one of the upper tier programs in the Big East.

"These young ladies had an unbelievable four years in our program," St. John's coach Joe Tartamella said. "They've done so much. They can leave here with their heads held high."

McKenith's lay-in just before the buzzer in regulation sent Sunday's thriller to overtime. That capped a rally by the Red Storm (18-13), who trailed by 13 with 5:30 left in regulation.

"We left everything we had on the floor," Tartamella said. "We don't play a lot of players and we started the game slowly and dug ourselves a hole. It was a special play by Nadirah at end of the game to force overtime. I can't say enough about these players."

The future looks bright for the Red Storm with freshmen Aliyyah Handford and Ashley Perez leading the way. Perez had a season-high 17 points in the game, including hit huge shots to help the team rally.

"Ashley Perez has 17 points and stuck it to me probably for the year, she was fantastic," Tartamella said. "I told her in practice you're going to make big shots for us."

St. John's was hosting an NCAA tournament for the first time in school history. The Red Storm had the comfort of their own locker room, but were wearing road black uniforms.

While the Red Storm season ended, Dayton's will continue with a game against Kentucky on Tuesday night.

Andrea Hoover scored a career-high 24 points to lead the Flyers to victory in the first double overtime game in the NCAA tournament since 2000 when Vanderbilt outlasted Kansas in the opening round.

"This whole season has been improbable," Dayton coach Jim Jabir said. "A bunch of freshmen running around out there against St. John's on their homecourt. We've done it all year. I'm proud of the way they handled the whole season. The presence and maturity of these guys."

The win was the second for the Flyers in their brief NCAA tournament history. The team first made the NCAAs in 2010 and pulled off a win over TCU. They had lost the past two years in their opening games.

"This means a lot for our program," said senior Olivia Applewhite, who had 13 points and 16 rebounds for Dayton. "Our freshman year we were happy to be here. We won the first round game on a game-winner. Now we're no longer that type of team. We expect to get here. We're not happy to be here and lose the first game like we did the last two seasons."

It has been an exceptional season for Dayton. The Flyers won their first Atlantic 10 regular season title before falling to Saint Joseph's in the conference tournament semifinals. The team has already surpassed the school record for wins and is in its fourth straight NCAA tournament.

Not bad for a squad that lost a lot to graduation last year and has the sixth youngest roster in the country. The Flyers used a balanced offense that features four players averaging in double figures. Eight different players have led the Flyers in scoring at some point this season.